Y'all know the dilly yo, that I don't own these characters, marvel or anything else. Blah blah blah
Author's note: Oh gosh golly me. For a girl who really wants this story to end (again), I'm not doing a whole lot to obtain that goal eh? Well, hopefully this story will end by the end of this month if not sooner. I'm getting sick of it and I feel like working on its sequel again. But there are also my two other stories that I'm currently working on at the moment too. Try reading Breaking the Habit. It's quite good… well, in my head it's quite good but that's because all the ideas I have for it haven't been written yet. Gosh… and I'm talking about writing other chapters when I can't even get this one done. I dug myself a hole here. Oh yeah, I only edit this once so there's probably mistakes that I haven't caught yet but I'll catch those things later. Anywho, I hate Marvel for going to break up Rogue and Gambit. Yes, I am really upset with this and I don't care if it's stupid that I'm this upset over something fictional, and you can call me pathetic all you want, but I'm sick of them breaking up. Just thinking about it makes me want to beat someone up. And the only series that they'll probably be together in is in UXM but Gambit looks like a freaking bum! And what's with that perm? Gosh… and I thought they couldn't get worse with the whole UXM 13 and 14 Gambit where he looks like a freaking morlock. Why must UXM artists make him look so ghastly? Okay, I'll end this rant since I'm getting upset just thinking about all this upcoming drama. - Runs off and reads X-Men 24… the good ol' days.
A Different Way To A Perfect Ending
Three entrances.
Three teams.
Three routes.
A series of misleading tunnels.
It ain't gonna be easy.
-xoxo-
Cyclops, Phoenix and Psylocke were team number one. They had entered the hidden headquarter via the southeast entrance with not a clue where to go despite the two telepaths that made up two-thirds of the team. Patience was running low; they kept going around in circles; frustration only festered.
"Cyclops, we have to stop." Psylocke requested irritably.
"Stop? We can't afford to make any stops." Cyclops responded strictly.
"If you haven't noticed, we've been walking in bloody circles for the last half an hour. This isn't getting us anywhere." She said frustratingly.
"We're only following the path Gambit had instructed." He stated.
"If you haven't noticed, we aren't exactly where the central control room is. Not to mention, oh great one… you weren't sure whether or not we should have taken a right or left all those turns ago. Did it ever occur to you that perhaps, we took the wrong turn?" She asked pointedly.
"I don't make mistakes." He said strongly.
"Well, apparently not until now. I refuse to continue walking in circles. You want to waste time go ahead, but I'm not going to when the babe's life is on the line." Psylocke stated.
"I'm the leader of this team. You will follow my orders." He commanded.
"I'll show you whose orders I follow…" Psylocke muttered angrily as her psi-knife began to form.
"Stop arguing!" Phoenix interrupted the two of them. Cyclops immediately looked at his wife, as Psylocke continued to glare at her 'leader'.
"We are apparently lost; I cannot get a signal from anyone and there's still a child to be found. So, I suggest that we don't lose our minds and turn on each other along the way." Phoenix practically ordered.
"Fine, but we're not taking that path again." Psylocke said firmly.
"Then, we won't. We'll go right this time." Phoenix instructed.
"Right it is." Cyclops agreed.
The three took the right path and continued walking. However, they hadn't been walking for more than a minute when they faced two doors. "Dammit! Now, what the hell do we do?" Psylocke asked exasperatingly.
"No choice but to choose one." Phoenix concluded.
"Which one?" Psylocke queried as the last bit of patience in her disappeared entirely.
"Cyclops?" Phoenix queried.
"Right one." Cyclops decided and opened the door. The three of them walked through, and as soon as the door slammed shut behind them, the lights flickered on.
"Scott… I think you chose the wrong door."
"Bloody hell!"
"Oh shit."
-xoxo-
"Bobby Drake! You are a dead man!" ShadowCat yelled after her Popsicle-like teammate.
"I didn't do anything except saved your life!" Iceman responded.
"Save my life? You call freezing the whole damn floor which only made me fall while those…those… things were chasing us saving my life? You left me back there!" ShadowCat screamed.
"Excuse me! If it weren't for my freezing, we would have been eaten alive by those things!" He argued.
"Well, I would have been if it weren't for that fact that NightCrawler came back for me. At least he knows the definition of what a 'team' is." She huffed.
"Well if you weren't so goddamn slow…."
"Vill you two just shut it?!?" NightCrawler interrupted the two with his own frustrated outburst.
The other two members of team number two quickly obliged to their field commander's demand. "Good and keep your voices down. Ve don't want our position t'be given away. Now, ve got my nephew to find so let's march on."
The three teammates continued down the narrow dark path, not having a clue where they were heading nor what lied ahead waiting for them. However, it only took three minutes to find out. Walking into the middle of a considerably vast open space where dim light was provided by the numerous candles that lined the walls. There were about five paths leading out of the circular opening or more accurately, there were five paths that led into the circular opening.
"Holy Crap!"
"Damn…"
"Oh God…"
-xoxo-
"So, Cajun… when shall I expect the ambush?" Wolverine asked snidely as he trudged behind Rogue who was following Gambit. The three of them made up team number three; however, the suspicion and tension that existed between the three of them would make it hard to believe that they were a part of the same unit.
"Just say de word and I'll blow y' up…" Gambit retorted.
Snikt.
"Knew ya were a trader…"
"Just try me…"
"Logan, put the claw away! Remy, put that card away! Ah'm not up for any of this bullshit! We ain't gonna waste anytime with you idiots playing barbarian here. Ah wanna find my baby, now!" Rogue ordered and the two older men quickly obliged.
"Good. Now, where do we go, Gambit?" She asked impatiently.
"We turn left, chere." He responded.
"Fine, then let's turn left." She resolved and quickly took lead of the search.
After five minutes of walking, they finally reached an opening. Though, of course a dilemma would meet them there as the opening split down into two different paths.
"Which one do we take?" Wolverine growled his question.
"We take….I'm not sure." Gambit replied uneasily. He was puzzled by this new development. He had thought he remembered the passageway correctly. Northwest entrance, left, right, right, left, door, left and it was supposed to take them straight there. There was not supposed to be another division of tunnels.
"What do ya mean ya ain't sure, Gambit?" Rogue asked anxiously.
"Just give me a second…"
"There isn't a second to give, Cajun. I knew you were a traitor. Don't remember which way leads us to our deaths eh?" Wolverine jeered.
"Shut up, Logan! C'mon, Remy… remember." Rogue pleaded.
"I…I can't. We're gonna have t'split up." Gambit answered dejectedly.
"Right… so, you can take the path to freedom while we go to our deaths?" Wolverine asked in disbelief.
"Look homme, my son's life is at stake here. So, shut the fuck up and do what you came to do which is to find my son." Gambit snarled at the stout man.
"He's better off without a father like you…"
"ENOUGH! Ah mean it! If ah hear one more word out of the both of ya, ah'm gonna kill ya both." Rogue hissed and the two shut their mouths in obedience.
"Now, ah want my baby in my arms by the end of this miserable day. We're gonna split up. Ah'll go left, ya two take the right." She ordered.
"Non! Y' ain't gonna go down dere yourself. Wolverine will go wit' y'. I'll go alone." Gambit differed.
"Like hell ya are. Ain't gonna let ya go that easily, Cajun." Wolverine said gruffly.
"Well, eit'er we all take de same path which will only waste time or we separate and take both paths where at least one of us will have de chance of finding de petite. Since I know dis place better t'an de two of y', I can handle myself better. So, y' two go down de right. I'll take de left. Dis way, we'll find de petite." Gambit reasoned.
"He's right, Wolverine. We'll cover all our bases this way." Rogue agreed.
"If he doesn't change sides… that is." Wolverine muttered underneath his breath although Gambit heard his words. However, Gambit was smart enough to not snap back at his 'teammate' since he knew that time was running short for his son.
"It's decided den. I go left, y'two go right." Gambit concluded definitely.
Rogue and Wolverine nodded in agreement and Gambit was about to go down his chosen path when he was stopped by Rogue's hand on his wrist. He turned around and even in the dimly light corridor, he could still make out the watery emerald eyes of hers. "Oui, chere?"
"Be careful, Remy." She whispered.
"I will. Y' do de same too." He whispered in return.
"And…find him." She said ever so softly.
Intuitively, he embraced her and held her for a few brief bittersweet moments. Kissing the top of her head, he whispered, "I will."
"Can we get this show on the road now?" Wolverine asked edgily. The two former lovers pulled apart and after one more glance at each other, they all headed down their destined trails.
-xoxo-
The sound of his light steps were completely covered by the endless French curses he muttered not so quietly. He had been walking for fifteen minutes and there was not an end in sight. Impatience and frustration was all he felt at the moment and the two were not a great combination for a Cajun who was known to have a raging temper.
Though, a few steps more, he was given the chance to finally take out his anger. Coming at him in three different directions were three genetically engineered mutants. The one with crooked eyes and nose was forming fireballs with his hands and blasted a couple towards his direction. Gambit leapt away in time and dodged both fireballs. However, he had inadvertently hurled himself in the direction of the spiky mutant who shot ten sharp spears from his ten fingernails. Jumping away from the spikes, Gambit wasn't so lucky this time as the tenth spike hit him square in the shoulder blade.
"Fuck!" He screamed out in pain and reached for a card in his pockets. He charged it and chucked it at the extended nails. The card exploded and caused three of the ten nails to snap off. The mutant quickly retreated his nails as he dealt with the unfamiliar sensation that was known to most people as pain.
Suddenly, feeling his neck being strangled, he realized that the third mutant had stretched his arms all the way from the other side of the room. Slightly panicking now, Gambit quickly grabbed another card and threw it in the direction of the mutant. The stretchy mutant easily dodged it by curving his limber body out of the way.
"Merde!" Gambit exclaimed but when he noticed the fiery mutant aiming for his heart, he knew his way out. Using his last ounce of strength, he threw his body forwards and up. The fireball whizzed right under him and hit the elastic mutant straight in its heart. His body started burning as his skin burned a gooey creamy white. His arms melted off his body and Gambit freed himself from its claws.
Thinking fast, Gambit reached for three cards and threw it in the direction of the fire-making mutant. All three cards hit the mutant and the explosions blew the vital parts of him up. He crumbled to the floor and again, Gambit felt a shot of pain rip through his back. Knowing that the spiky mutant had hit him again, he reached for another card. However, another spear-like nail pierced his right hand. Keeping in his cry of agony, his left hand attempted for a card. But, once again, his other hand was pierced as well.
Bleeding in four different spots, Gambit wasn't about to give up just yet. Knowing it was a long shot, he proceeded with his desperate plan anyway and it paid off. All three nails that were still embedded in his skin began glowing the charged crimson. Panicking, the mutant retreated his nails, which benefited only Gambit himself. Rolling out of the way, the three explosions simultaneously went off and the spiky mutant was blown up to pieces.
Blood flowed out of his wounds and he was gasping for breath, but he began running down the corridor. Hearing footsteps following him, he found a door and without hesitation or thought, he opened it and entered the room. Slamming the door shut, he tried to catch his breath while attempting to ignore the burning sensation in his wounds.
However, his bleeding wounds and his need for breath were all forgotten by one simple word.
"Hiya!" A small high voiced greeted him.
Gambit looked up and before him, merely fifteen feet away was a small boy sitting on top of a table. There was no doubt in his mind that it was Jeremy as he sprinted across the room and embraced the boy in a matter of seconds.
Managing to pull himself away from the child long enough to examine the physical being of the boy, he stopped mid-way in his procedure as soon as he looked into his son's eyes. Green on black – emeralds embedded in a velvet night. He had always thought that Rogue's eyes were the most beautiful he had ever seen, but she was undoubtedly second to their son now. Tears formed at the corner of his eyes as he embraced his son once more.
The boy, not understanding the severity of the situation nor recognizing the man hugging him, simply hugged the man back. Though he couldn't comprehend the life-changing moment that was happening to the both of them, he sensed that the man embracing him was somehow supposed to be there for him.
Pulling himself away for a brief second again, he asked his son, "Are y'okay, petite?"
"Not petite. J'remy LeBeau." The boy declared proudly.
The tears hanging on the corner of Remy's eyes fell now, as the overwhelming wondrous feeling of fatherhood sunk in. "I know." He managed to say.
"What's your name?" The boy asked curiously.
"Remy. Remy LeBeau." He replied.
Jeremy began giggling upon hearing Remy's answer. "Remy. J'remy. LeBeau. LeBeau. Almost same." He explained through his giggling at the amusing coincidence in their names, though of course he didn't know that it wasn't a coincidence at all.
"Glad you're okay, petite." Remy said softly and kissed the boy's forehead.
Jeremy stopped giggling as he finally realized the colour of the wet liquid the man was leaving on him. "Ya not okay. Ya bleeding." He pointed out with his eyes slightly wide with fear.
"Remy's fine. But how about we get of here?" Remy asked and scooped the boy up in his arms.
"Okay. It's cold in here." Jeremy agreed and rubbed his arms to emphasize his point.
"You two are not going anywhere." An icy callous voice said from behind them.
Recognizing the voice immediately, Jeremy only consolidated Remy's suspicion when the boy cried loudly, "MISTER!"
Whipping around while tightening his hold on his son, Remy came face to face to the man who was the reason for all the torment that led up to that very moment. The sly sadistic smile, the hard malicious red eyes, Sinister still looked exactly the same as Remy had remembered.
"That's right, Jeremy. It's Mister Sinister. Where do you think you are going, my child?" Sinister asked.
"He isn't your child!" Gambit snapped.
"That isn't the point, Gambit. Yet, we meet again, though of course this was all not of pure coincidence. I did put a lot of planning into this whole operation and trust me, you're not going to go this easily." Sinister assured him.
"I'm leaving here wit' my boy now and dat's all dere is to it." Gambit stated firmly.
"I don't think so, Gambit."
And those were the last words Gambit heard before it all went black.
-----------------------------------------